CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Florida brewer known for collaborating
with other brewers is teaming up with Great Lakes Brewing Co. on an ale and a
lager.

Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa and the Cleveland brewery
are working together to create Wandering Pelican. Russell Breslow of Cigar City
Brewing's media and marketing departments says the brewers are creating the lager
in Cleveland and an ale in Florida.

Great Lakes will release Wandering Pelican Black Lager
around Monday, May 19. The 22-ounce bottles will be available exclusively in
the brewery's gift shop. The Florida brewer will distribute the ale in 12-ounce
cans.

View full sizeThanks to Great Lakes Brewing Co. and Cigar City Brewing, a brown pelican is being honored with not one but two beers in its name.Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

"Our owner Joey Redner and our head brewer Wayne Wambles
have been talking for a while (about the collaboration)," Breslow told The
Plain Dealer. "They've been trying to do it. Our owner mentioned that Great
Lakes is one of his favorite breweries. It's mutual respect between the two."

Cigar City is prolific when it comes to collaborations,
doing "two or three a month," he said.

The Florida brewer is smaller than its counterpart in
Cleveland. Distributed in half a dozen states, it has five core beers,
including Jai Lai India Pale Ale and Florida Cracker, a Belgian-style White
Ale. Breslow said eight to 10 different beers usually are on tap at any given
time in the tasting room.

In a press release, he said the name is derived from "a
Brown Pelican who made the journey from Florida to Ohio's Lake Erie Coast
during the summer of 2013. ... this welcome stranger made Lake Erie his home for
several months and became an unlikely local celebrity. Both of these beers will
honor our courageous friend who wandered off the beaten path to find his home."

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